5 things to know for your new day -- Thursday, August 13

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Smoke billows behind rows of burnt out cars at the site of a series of explosions in Tianjin, northern China.

(CNN)Massive blasts rock a Chinese city. Jimmy Carter has cancer. And Hillary Clinton and The Donald get good news in Iowa.

It's Thursday, and here are five things to know for your new day.

CHINA BLAST

Explosive mystery: What caused the massive blasts that killed dozens and decimated a northern Chinese city? No one knows yet, partly because everyone is just coming to grips with the utter destruction the explosions caused. Buildings turned into hollowed out shells. Rows of incinerated cars. Windows broken miles away. And dozens of firefighters are still missing. The blasts ripped through warehouses that stored hazardous chemical materials. Firefighting efforts were suspended because authorities still aren't sure what "dangerous goods" are stored at the warehouse at the heart of the explosions.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Smoke rises from debris on Saturday, August 15, near a crater that was at the center of a series of explosions in northeastern China's Tianjin municipality as seen from an aerial view.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

The Donghai Road light rail terminal station in Tianjin, China, is seen covered in debris on Monday, August 17. Explosions at a chemical warehouse left more than a hundred people dead and hundreds injured. Fire officials say hazardous chemicals stored at the warehouse were ignited by fire, but the fire's cause is still being investigated.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

A train with a smashed-up windscreen sits abandoned in the eerily deserted station on August 17.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Smoke rises as damaged cars explode on Saturday, August 15.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Firefighters work August 15 at the site of the explosions.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Soldiers from the National Nuclear Biochemical Emergency Rescue Team launch a rescue mission August 15 at the core area of the explosion site.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Smoke rises from debris on August 15 near a crater at the center of where the explosions took place.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Scattered debris is seen August 15 at the site of the explosions.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Volkswagens lie burned near ruined buildings on Friday, August 14.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

An aerial image taken shows toxic smoke rising from debris in Tianjin, a sprawling port city of more than 13 million people about 70 miles from Beijing.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Firefighters wear protective gear while working as partially pink smoke billows nearby. The environmental group Greenpeace expressed concern "that certain chemicals will continue to pose a risk to the residents of Tianjin," and city residents shared similar fears on social media.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Rescuers are seen near the site of the blasts. A Chinese military team of nuclear and chemical were conducting investigations as pressure grew on authorities to explain the cause of the fire and the resulting cataclysmic explosions.

Residents take their belongings as they evacuate from parts of the city. Managers of the warehouse facility have provided "insufficient information" about what was stored there, a city safety official said, though it is known that sodium cyanide, a highly toxic chemical that can rapidly kill humans exposed to it, was one of the stored materials.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Three men walk out onto the streets after being treated at a hospital on Thursday, August 13.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

A Chinese police officer carries a man as civilians flee the area near the disaster.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Fire and smoke is seen from a broken window of an apartment.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

People walk among the crumpled remains of shipping containers. One of the explosions was estimated to be equivalent to 21 tons of TNT, or a magnitude-2.9 earthquake, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang called for "all-out efforts" to save the injured and minimize casualties, the state-run Xinhua news outlet reported.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Over 1,000 firefighters were called in to put out secondary fires caused by the explosions.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

People sleep in a classroom at a primary school used as a makeshift emergency evacuation center.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

A bandaged man eats in a hospital in Tianjin.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

A firefighter grimaces as he is examined for injuries. Seventeen firefighters were among the people killed, officials said.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

An injured survivor is brought to a hospital following the explosion.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

Fires continued to burn near the site of the explosions in the early hours of Thursday, August 13.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

A photographer captures the plume of the second, and most massive, of the series of explosions.

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Photos:Multiple explosions hit Chinese port city

The initial explosion erupts Wednesday night, August 12 at a warehouse owned by Rui Hai International Logistics Co. Executives of the company were taken into custody, state media reported on August 13.

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JIMMY CARTER

'I have cancer': The former president not only announced his cancer diagnosis, he also said it had spread. Carter, 90, had a "small mass" removed from his liver earlier this month and was told he should make a full recovery. But yesterday, Carter said the cancer was in other parts of his body. Carter's family has a history of pancreatic cancer. More information on his condition will be released after he gets treatment at Atlanta's Emory University. Social media was quick to offer up well wishes.

CAMPAIGN 2016

Poll toppers: A day after agreeing to turn over her private email server and falling behind Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton got some good news yesterday: she's still running strong in Iowa. The first CNN/ORC poll of Democrats in Iowa shows Clinton with a 50% to 31% lead over Sanders. On the GOP side of things, Donald Trump still has a big lead in the state, despite all the Megyn Kelly "blood" comment drama. The poll says Trump tops the 17-person field with 22% support among Iowa Republicans.

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TURKEY-SYRIA

War's new phase: Yesterday the U.S. launched manned airstrikes from a base in Turkey against ISIS in Syria for the first time. The U.S. has long wanted to use Turkish bases in the battle against ISIS because it would shorten flight times for fighter jets. Turkey had resisted such an arrangement in part because the U.S. is working with Kurdish fighters also battling the Islamist extremist group. As recently as last year, Turkey called the Kurdish fighters "terrorists."

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ISIS

Brutal beheading: Yet another one by ISIS. This time, images posted online seem to show the killing of a Croatian national who had been kidnapped back in July near Cairo, Egypt. There was no immediate or definitive proof the man had been killed. Still, the image and a video released days ago threatening just such a horrific act had many fearing the worst.

Images posted online by ISIS seem to show the beheading of Tomislav Salopek of Croatia.